Any Australian citizen 18 and over, or British subject who was on the Commonwealth Roll as at 25 January 1984, is qualified to enrol and vote at Commonwealth elections. Residence in an electorate for a period of one month before enrolment is necessary to enable a qualified person to enrol. Enrolment and attendance at a polling place on polling day (except under certain lawful exceptions) are compulsory for all eligible persons.

Parliamentary terms

Members of the House of Representatives are elected for a maximum term of three years, though elections may be called earlier. Senators have fixed terms of six years. Normally half the Senate retires every three years, and elections for the Senate are usually held at the same time as elections for the House of Representatives, though they need not be.

At times of disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate, both houses may be dissolved and an election called for both houses. Six of the forty Commonwealth elections have been double dissolution elections.Table 2.3 shows the number and terms of all parliaments since Federation.

2.3 COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTS(a)

Number of Parliament

Date of opening

Date of dissolution

First

9 May 1901

23 November 1903

Second

2 March 1904

5 November 1906

Third

20 February 1907

19 February 1910

Fourth

1 July 1910

23 April 1913

Fifth

9 July 1913

30 July 1914(b)

Sixth

8 October 1914

26 March 1917

Seventh

14 June 1917

3 November 1919

Eighth

26 February 1920

6 November 1922

Ninth

28 February 1923

3 October 1925

Tenth

13 January 1926

9 October 1928

Eleventh

6 February 1929

16 September 1929

Twelfth

20 November 1929

27 November 1931

Thirteenth

17 February 1932

7 August 1934

Fourteenth

23 October 1934

21 September 1937

Fifteenth

30 November 1937

27 August 1940

Sixteenth

20 November 1940

7 July 1943

Seventeenth

23 September 1943

16 August 1946

Eighteenth

6 November 1946

1 October 1949

Nineteenth

22 February 1950

19 March 1951(b)

Twentieth

12 June 1951

21 April 1954

Twenty-first

4 August 1954

4 November 1955

Twenty-second

15 February 1956

14 October 1958

Twenty-third

17 February 1959

2 November 1961

Twenty-fourth

20 February 1962

1 November 1963

Twenty-fifth

25 February 1964

31 October 1966

Twenty-sixth

21 February 1967

29 September 1969

Twenty-seventh

25 November 1969

2 November 1972

Twenty-eighth

27 February 1973

11 April 1974(b)

Twenty-ninth

9 July 1974

11 November 1975(b)

Thirtieth

17 February 1976

8 November 1977

Thirty-first

21 February 1978

19 September 1980

Thirty-second

25 November 1980

4 February 1983(b)

Thirty-third

21 April 1983

26 October 1984

Thirty-fourth

21 February 1985

5 June 1987(b)

Thirty-fifth

14 September 1987

19 February 1990

Thirty-sixth

8 May 1990

8 February 1993

Thirty-seventh

4 May 1993

29 January 1996

Thirty-eighth

30 April 1996

31 August 1998

Thirty-ninth

10 November 1998

8 October 2001(a)

(a) As at October 2001. Parliament was dissolved on 8 October 2001 and an election called for 10 November 2001, for the House of Representatives and half the Senate. At that election the Liberal-National Party coalition was returned to office.(b) A dissolution of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Electorates

For the purpose of House of Representatives elections each State or Territory is divided into single-member electorates corresponding in number to the number of members to which the State or Territory is entitled. In Senate elections the whole State or Territory constitutes a single electorate.Redistributions of House of Representatives electorates must be held at least every seven years. A redistribution must take into account current and projected enrolments, community of economic, social and regional interests, means of communication and travel, physical features and area, and existing electorate boundaries. Within each State and Territory the electorates must, as far as possible, be equal in numbers of electors. There is usually a variation in size of electorates from one State or Territory to another.

The Electoral Commissioner determines the representation entitlements of the States and Territories during the thirteenth month after the first meeting of a new House of Representatives. Determinations are based on the latest population statistics as provided by the Australian Statistician. The representation entitlements of the States and Territories at the 1999 determination are shown in table 2.4, which also shows the total size of the House of Representatives at the time of the next election. Tasmania has a constitutional entitlement to five members of the House of Representatives based on it being a State at the time of Federation in 1901. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have gained representation since 1901, and current legislation provides a minimum representation of one member of the House of Representatives for each.

2.4 REPRESENTATION ENTITLEMENTS(a)

State/Territory

Seats
no.

New South Wales

50

Victoria

37

Queensland

27

Western Australia

15

South Australia

12

Tasmania

5

Australian Capital Territory

2

Northern Territory

2

Total

150

(a) 1999 Determination.

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

1998 election

First preference votes cast for the major political parties in each State and Territory at the 1998 election for each House of the Commonwealth Parliament are shown in table 2.5.

Parliament was dissolved on 8 October 2001 and an election called for 10 November 2001, for the House of Representatives and half the Senate. At that election the Liberal-National Party coalition was returned to office. The final tally of votes recorded was not available at time of printing of this edition of Year Book Australia. It will be included in the next edition.

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